Huskers Head to Illinois for Conference Dual

The Nebraska
swimming and diving team travels to Champaign, Ill., on Jan. 26 for a dual
against the Illinois Fighting Illini beginning at 11 a.m. at the ARC Pool. The contest
will be the first Big Ten dual for the Huskers this season, as they will try to
avenge last season's 152-148 loss to the Illini at the Devaney Natatorium.

Nebraska
(10-1) will be hoping for a different result than last weekend's 158-142 home
loss to San Diego State that knocked them from the ranks of the unbeaten. Illinois
(2-3) will also be looking to bounce back after suffering a home dual meet loss
to Iowa 196-102 last weekend.

This weekend's
meet is the first and last conference dual meet of the season for the Huskers. Next
weekend the squad will travel to Evanston, Illinois, for the Northwestern Dual
Meet Invite on Feb 1-2. After that, Nebraska will have nearly three weeks to
prepare for the Big Ten Championships held Feb. 20-23.

Last Time Out: Huskers Lose Senior Day Battle With Aztecs (1/19/13)

The Nebraska swimming and diving
team lost a tight contest to San Diego State 158-142 on Saturday afternoon at
the Devaney Natatorium. The Huskers fell to 10-1 on the season following the
loss.

The Huskers got off to a great
start, winning the meet's opening event, the 200-yard medley relay by 31
hundredths of a second.

Bailey Pons and Hayley Martin then
won the 1,000- and 200-yard freestyles, respectively, to give Nebraska an early
lead. Pons' time of 10:06.52 beat her previous career-best in the 1,000-yard
freestyle by 6.36 seconds.

San Diego State started to chip away
at the lead with wins by Leona Jennings in the 100-yard backstroke and Katelyn
Weddle in the 100-yard breaststroke. Anna Steiner added a victory in the
three-meter dive to draw the Aztecs even closer.

Ariel Weech and Taryn Collura would
then split first place in the 50-yard freestyle and finish first and second,
respectively, in the 100-yard freestyle to push the Huskers back in front.

Following the 100-yard freestyle,
the Aztecs would win six of the last seven events on the way to victory. Junior
Mikaela Macklin led the charge, winning the 200-yard breaststroke and 200-yard
individual medley.

Senior Leona Jennings added her
second victory of the day in the 200-yard backstroke as San Diego State
improved to 9-1 on the season.

Other Husker winners on the day were
Natalie Morris in the 200-yard butterfly (2:05.31) and Amy Herman in the
one-meter dive (296.32). Herman's score was a career best in the event.

Last Time Vs. Illinois: Huskers Drop Close
Dual to Illinois (1/21/12)

The Nebraska swimming and diving
team dropped its second dual of the season on Saturday against the Illinois
Fighting Illini at the Devaney Natatorium.NU fell to the Illini, 148-152, in a
dual that went down to the last event. Nebraska drops to 2-2 on the season and
1-4 all-time against new conference foe Illinois.

The Illini started the day hot,
winning the 200-yard medley relay in 1:45.70 over the Husker squad of Ellan
Dufour, Shannon Guy, Natalie Morris and Ariel Weech (1:47.16). NU's Bailey
Pons, Morgan Flannigan and Mailene Leslie got things started for the Huskers by
sweeping the second event of the morning, the 1,000-yard freestyle.

Hayley Martin (1:51.99) kept things
going for the Huskers in the 200-yard freestyle event, winning over the
Illini's Courtney Pope (1:53.24). Illinois went on to win events 4-7 in the
100-yard backstroke, 100-yard breaststroke, 200-yard butterfly and the 50-yard
freestyle. Weech notched a second-place finish in the 50-free, just .11 behind
Illinois' Kristen Manias.

Payton Michaud swept the diving
events for NU, earning wins in the 1-meter and 3-meter events (291.60, 299.18).
Kaitlan Walker and Alyson Ramsey finished second and third, respectively, in
the 1-meter event while Kailey Harmon notched a third-place finish in the
3-meter dive.

Weech swam to a victory in the 100-yard
freestyle before Pons earned her second win of the day in the 500-yard
freestyle. Pons, Flannigan and Leslie swept the event for the Huskers.

Guy followed Pons' victory with a
victory of her own in the 100-yard butterfly (56.53). Morris finished third in
the event for NU as well.

In the final and deciding event of
the afternoon, the Nebraska team of Martin, Kelly Dunn, Pons and Weech won the
400-yard freestyle relay, but it wasn't enough to stop the Illini squad from
finishing second and third, ensuring the dual for the Illini.